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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27611644">The Rest</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquirrelNo2/pseuds/SquirrelNo2'>SquirrelNo2</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Instrument of Chaos [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asexual Julie Molina, Demisexual Luke Patterson, Fluff, Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:48:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,462</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27611644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquirrelNo2/pseuds/SquirrelNo2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For once, there is peace and calm within the extended Molina-ghost household. Alex checks in on Willie. Julie, Luke, and Reggie trade revelations.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson/Reggie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Instrument of Chaos [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>228</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. You Could Rest in Peace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Just a quick thing, again - the shippiest, fluffiest things I've written in my life probably. The next chapter is the one that earned the T rating if anybody's curious - nothing big, I firmly believe aceness and alloness are things that can be discussed in a G context, but Julie is coming out as ace in this one (not a spoiler if I've hinted, right? also the only time I tag sexualities is when the coming out is the major plot thing soooo) and she has some. Related fears that I felt maybe bumped the rating up. it's all implied and not a big deal overall, but I did want to warn and clarify.<br/>Also, both chapters are named after lines from Other Side of Hollywood. This is my intentional middle finger to Caleb, who will never know as he is fictional, but it amuses me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Willie had visions, when they started, of holding Alex’s hands tenderly and coaxing him into some impressive moves for a new skateboarder. He had not foreseen the twenty increasingly impressive ways Alex had found to fall, the stuttering mess Alex turned into when Willie held both his hands at once, or the screaming children who went racing through them no less than three times before they gave up on the skate park.</p><p>“Next time, I’m taking you somewhere better,” Willie said as they returned to the studio.</p><p>“I don’t think I’ll be any better at that in an empty pool or on a rooftop,” Alex said, collapsing onto the couch. He pulled Willie down next to him, and Willie gladly rolled towards him, resting his head on Alex’s shoulder.</p><p>“Fewer people, though,” Willie said.</p><p>“Oh, so you just want me alone,” Alex said. Willie lifted his head to smirk at Alex, whose teasing grin morphed into a look of surprise not unlike a deer facing down a car.</p><p>“I usually do,” he said. Alex made a high-pitched noise, and Willie doubled over laughing.</p><p>“Oh, thanks, mock my pain,” Alex said, shoving Willie’s shoulder lightly. Willie shook his head, still staring down between his knees, laughing breathlessly.</p><p>“Is pain the right word?” Willie asked when he’d pulled himself together.</p><p>“Not really,” Alex said. “Not with you.”</p><p>Willie ducked his head, hiding his smile behind his hair out of habit. He looked back at Alex after a few seconds and was greeted by Alex studying him, looking almost amused.</p><p>“You don’t mind that I’m really bad at skating, right?” Alex said quickly when he realised Willie was looking at him. Willie got the feeling that wasn’t what Alex had been thinking, from the way Alex’s eyes wandered away from Willie as he finished the sentence.</p><p>“Nah,” Willie said. “For one thing, with how good you are at music, it’s really only fair for you to need improvement <em>somewhere</em>.”</p><p>“Dude,” Alex protested. “No, I mean. I’m just a drummer, it’s not that hard.”</p><p>“And I just push around wooden boards on wheels with my feet,” Willie said. “I see what Reggie meant about needing to compliment you often.”</p><p>Alex laughed nervously, and Willie took pity on him by laying his head back down and dropping the topic of Alex’s lengthy list of accomplishments.</p><p>“How are you doing?” Alex asked softly, wrapping a finger in Willie’s hair. Willie sat up, pulling his hair back from his face.</p><p>“You mean after seeing Caleb,” he said.</p><p>“Sorry,” Alex said, tensing slightly, and Willie wrapped his arm around Alex before his boyfriend could pull away.</p><p>“I’m ok,” Willie said. “Really.”</p><p>“Really,” Alex said.</p><p>“What, you think seeing the guy who held me captive for decades again after I finally got free is supposed to freak me out or something?” Willie laughed, then immediately regretted it when Alex sat up and frowned at him. He gave Alex a rueful grin.</p><p>“I should probably say thanks for checking up on me, but I really am doing ok,” he said. “That was… a bad joke. I know I’m usually hilarious, but even I have to make bad ones sometimes.”</p><p>“Well, if you were perfect, I’d be too anxious to talk to you,” Alex said, like a peace offering.</p><p>“Here’s hoping I never reach perfect, then,” Willie said. He looked away. There was something he should say, but it would be veering way too close to emotional vulnerability, and he’d had a lot of that with Alex and the band already after everything that happened with Caleb.</p><p>“Willie?” Alex said softly. Willie took a breath. If he couldn’t be vulnerable with his boyfriend, when could he?</p><p>“I thought it would hurt me more than it did,” Willie said. “And it’s not like Flynn lied, seeing Caleb was… Well, it didn’t make my top ten list of things to do after I died.”</p><p>Alex laughed.</p><p>“Pretty sure Caleb’s not on anybody’s list anymore,” he said.</p><p>“As it should be,” Willie noted. “But seeing Caleb here – having you there, and the others, actual friends I didn’t have to recruit with dinner and a show –“</p><p>He swallowed. <em>Too much</em>, Willie’s head was screaming at him. But Alex had asked. He wanted to know, and he deserved to.</p><p>“I feel like maybe I belong here now,” he said. “I mean, Caleb just <em>left</em>. He can’t do anything to me, and everything he could give me I have here without needing to be obedient, and – and I have you, too.”</p><p>Alex was oddly still as he watched Willie finish his little speech. Willie licked his lips nervously.</p><p>“Alex?” he asked. Was that too much? Were they not at basically-confessing-love territory yet?</p><p>Then Alex was surging towards him, kissing him with a fire that took Willie by surprise. It was all he could do to hold on and kiss back.</p><p>Alex pulled away just as suddenly, leaving Willie bewildered.</p><p>“That was ok, right?” he asked nervously. Willie laughed and pulled him back in.</p><p>By the end of this kiss, Willie had pulled Alex over so he was practically in his lap, knees on either side of Willie’s hips. They broke away from each other gently, and Willie grinned when he saw Alex panting heavily out of habit.</p><p>“You know, technically,” Alex remarked, though the casual delivery was ruined by the hoarse note to his voice. “You did recruit Luke, Reggie, and I with dinner and a show.”</p><p>Willie threw his head back and laughed, and when he was done he wrapped his arms around Alex’s neck and pulled him in for another, softer kiss.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Here There Ain't No Misery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Julie has one last coming out to do, Luke is confused, and Reggie takes the opportunity to remind everybody that he does know what he's talking about.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Reggie was sprawled across Julie’s bed with his upper back leaned against Julie’s side, tweaking the bassline for the song they’d been working on. Julie had just finished her math homework when Luke poked his head through the door.</p><p>“Can I come in?” he said, eyes filled with pleading. “Alex and Willie left. I think Willie’s trying to teach Alex to skateboard.”</p><p>“Ooh,” Reggie winced, sitting up. Julie patted the space between them, and Luke gladly threw himself headfirst onto the bed. He rolled over and reached for each of his partner’s hands. There was a moment when Julie was sure Reggie would drop his bass or whack himself in the head as he juggled it one-handed, but it passed, and he rested it on his leg as Luke ran his thumbs over Reggie and Julie’s knuckles.</p><p>“I take it you haven’t got any great expectations for Alex’s skateboarding lessons?” Julie said.</p><p>“Well, let’s just say there’s a reason he never learned before,” Luke said. “Not that he’ll tell Willie that.”</p><p>“That sounds like a story,” Julie said, delighted.</p><p>“We were like twelve,” Reggie said. “Not much of one, actually.” Julie looked to Luke, disappointed, but Luke only shrugged.</p><p>“What have you two been doing up here, anyway?” Luke asked. Julie glanced at Reggie, whose eyes lit up.</p><p>“We were working on something together,” Julie said slowly. Reggie started to bounce, shaking the whole bed. “A song.”</p><p>“Wait, without me?” Luke bolted upright, looking hurt.</p><p>“It was for you!” Reggie exclaimed. Luke stared at him, then whipped his head around to stare at Julie. She nodded.</p><p>“Dude!” Luke laughed breathlessly, keeping hold of Julie’s hand as he tackled Reggie in a hug, dragging them all down. Reggie barely managed to save his bass.</p><p>“Do you want to hear it, or…” Julie said, partly because she was dying to share it but also because her shoulder kind of hurt the way she was lying.</p><p>“What, yes! Absolutely!” Luke scrambled up from the bed. “In the studio?”</p><p>“We haven’t really fleshed out parts yet,” Julie said. “And if Alex’s skating is as bad as you say, who knows when they’ll come back.”</p><p><em>You can stay</em>, she was really saying, and the guys seemed to get that. Luke sat down cross-legged on the floor, staring up at them like a little kid waiting for storytime. Julie tried not to laugh as Reggie picked out the bass line he’d been messing with. At his nod, Julie jumped into the lyrics.</p><p>Luke started to cry halfway through the chorus. Julie, being the one without an instrument in her lap, leapt up and knelt beside him. She only kept singing because he looked alarmed when her voice faltered.</p><p>“Are you ok?” she asked, wrapping the chorus up quickly.</p><p>“Yeah,” he choked out. Julie hadn’t seen Luke cry very much, certainly not in moments where she’d felt the need to study his crying, but apparently he was an ugly crier. He sniffed away some snot and looked up at Reggie, wrapping an arm around Julie.</p><p>“Dude,” he said softly. “I mean…” He looked between them. “Nobody’s ever <em>written </em>me a song before.”</p><p>It made sense, in a way, since Luke spent so much time writing other people songs. Still, it made Julie unbelievably sad that other people had missed out on communicating with Luke in his most fundamental language.</p><p>“Get used to it,” Julie said, pulling him close. She wasn’t worried about ghost snot getting on her clothes – she was pretty sure it would just vanish. Like, ninety percent sure.</p><p>“I love you guys,” Reggie said quietly.</p><p>Julie and Luke pulled apart, staring at him. Julie’s breath caught in her throat. What should she say? What did he mean?</p><p>And the question that had been weighing on her since she became a little surer of herself, what did he expect?</p><p>“Seriously?” Luke asked.</p><p>“What – wait – that wasn’t – I didn’t say that out loud!” Reggie stammered rapidly.</p><p>“Yeah, you did!” Luke said with delight. He bounded to his feet, twitching with the clear desire to approach Reggie. Julie still felt stiff, almost detached from her body, but she managed a smile when Luke looked at her.</p><p>She had to say something.</p><p>“Julie?” Reggie said, looking worried. The guilt and nerves crawled up Julie’s throat and weighed down her tongue. She trusted Reggie and Luke, and she didn’t believe they’d ever hurt her – but she knew a lot of people had their trust broken. A lot of <em>ace</em> people.</p><p>She was scared.</p><p>“Look, I’m not expecting you to say it back, I didn’t even mean to say it –“</p><p>“I’m asexual,” Julie forced out, unable to listen to Reggie blame himself when it was her own anxieties keeping her quiet.</p><p>Reggie looked relieved.</p><p>“Oh,” he said. “Wait, so why are you upset?”</p><p>“Asexual?” Luke asked.</p><p>“You know what it means?” Julie said with relief.</p><p>“We’re from the 1990s, not the 1890s,” Reggie said with a snort. “I mean, the <em>Satanic Bible </em>mentions asexuality, and that was in the ‘60’s.”</p><p>Julie’s fear was completely gone now, replaced by utter confusion.</p><p>“Bro, why do you know that?” Luke asked.</p><p>“I got bored in the library,” Reggie said. “A <em>lot</em>.”</p><p>“So… are either of you going to explain it to me, then?” Luke asked.</p><p>“Uh… I don’t get attracted to people,” Julie said. “Sexually. I mean, I like you two, obviously, and I’m still bi, I just don’t ever see somebody and think ‘oh, I want sex with them’ and I don’t know if I’m ever going to want sex? If I do, it’ll be a <em>long</em> way off…”</p><p>“Wait, nobody just <em>looks</em> at somebody and wants sex,” Luke said, looking puzzled. “You have to get to know people.”</p><p>Julie opened her mouth, then closed it. She didn’t really want to get into all this.</p><p>“Dude, people definitely do that all the time,” Reggie said. He gestured to himself.</p><p>Luke stared at Reggie as though he was re-evaluating everything he knew about his boyfriend. Julie giggled.</p><p>“You… <em>have</em> seen me flirt before,” Reggie said slowly.</p><p>“Yeah, but – dude, I always flirted with people who liked our music, because I thought we had something in common! I thought that was what you did!”</p><p>Julie bit her lip.</p><p>“That’s a pretty ace thing, Luke,” she said.</p><p>“No, I feel – um. I have… that.” Luke made a half-hearted hand gesture that conveyed nothing even to the dirtiest or most creative corners of Julie’s mind.</p><p>“Sexual attraction?” Reggie prompted, grinning.</p><p>“Demisexual people don’t feel it until they get to know people,” Julie offered tentatively. “I mean, you know how you feel! I’m not saying you have to be, but…”</p><p>“I never knew that was its own thing,” Luke said.</p><p>“It is,” Julie said. “And I can show you some resources some time?”</p><p>“I’d like that,” Luke said.</p><p>“Julie,” Reggie said as Julie and Luke sat on either side of him. “You looked nervous earlier.”</p><p>“It’s no big deal,” Julie said. “It’s just… on the internet, you hear stories, and <em>you</em> know what it’s like coming out…”</p><p>“Julie,” Reggie said, uncharacteristically serious. Luke propped his chin on Reggie’s shoulder and watched Julie with sad eyes. “I will <em>never</em> ask you to do something you don’t want to. I mean, it’d be weird and a bad idea anyway but especially because I don’t want to hurt you.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke added. He reached across Reggie and Julie grabbed his hand. “You’re like, the coolest girlfriend two ghosts could ask for. That’s worth way more than sex.”</p><p>Julie’s eyes filled with tears, but this time they were happy.</p><p>“I love you, too,” she said softly.</p><p>“Dude, she’s still crying,” Luke said in an undertone to Reggie. “What do we do?”</p><p>“I think it’s good crying?” Reggie whispered back. Julie laughed, wiping her eyes.</p><p>“You guys know I can hear you, right?” she said. The boys exchanged guilty glances, but then they were hurrying to readjust so Julie was in the centre.</p><p>“Thank you,” Julie said softly. She felt tired after the wild ride her emotions had just been on, so she flopped backwards onto the bed. Two little thuds later, her boyfriends had joined her, hands clasped across her stomach.</p><p>“Just trying to be a good boyfriend,” Reggie replied cheerfully.</p><p>They’d only laid there for a few seconds before Luke stiffened.</p><p>“Bro! Why didn’t you tell me I never said it back to you!”</p><p>“So say it now, Luke,” Julie said, rolling over to face him. She felt Reggie rest his cheek on her shoulder, the better to look at Luke as well.</p><p>He looked startled for a moment, then he grinned.</p><p>“I love you both, too,” he said. Julie leaned forward to press her forehead against his, breathing in that bare whisper of a scent. She never knew if the ghosts really had a smell, but at the very least if they didn’t her mind had filled in the blanks.</p><p>“So we’re doing that song for a show, right? There’s gonna be a guitar part?” Luke asked, interrupting the quiet again. Julie grinned as Reggie pressed his face into her shoulder to muffle his laugh.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>why is this almost twice as long as the last one? Despite my best efforts, clearly some plot happened. Oops.<br/>this was... angstier than I intended? But that Ace Fear really jumped out of me. What is fanfiction if you can't project?<br/>Also I have been both Julie and Luke, not in that order, so that's fun.<br/>I do like ace!Reggie as well, but in this context I liked the idea of normalising ace/allo relationships, where the allo says "yeah you're more important than sex." this is what I yearn for, on a personal level. Also, I feel like sometimes we veer dangerously close as a fandom to looking at Reggie as an innocent child, and while allosexuality is not UN-innocent (there's a word for that, I'm sure, but I'm tired) it does challenge certain notions we have about him. Feel free to ask me to clarify this author's note, I've been awake for too long and my brain is shot.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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